Forums > Specific Focus > Technical Mexico

JohnnyBoy

Feb 17, 2009, 8:56 AM

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Dish Network In's and Out's

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Hey Johanson,

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(This post was edited by johanson on Apr 13, 2009, 3:46 PM)

Rolly

Feb 17, 2009, 9:36 AM

Post #2 of 12 (7706 views)

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Re: [JohnBleazard] Dish Network In's and Out's

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It is not legal to have USA Dish-TV in México, and if you are caught, Dish will cut you off. The reason you have a Texas service address is because you must have one in the USA.

You can change your billing address on the Dish website. You'll have to hunt for it because it is not easy to find. Having a disconnect between your billing address and your credit card address is not a problem. Mine started out like that.

PBS is an extra charge channel, as are the movie channels. You can add them online.

Rolly Pirate

taltman711

Feb 17, 2009, 12:56 PM

Post #3 of 12 (7690 views)

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Re: [JohnBleazard] Dish Network In's and Out's

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As for the legality, there seem to be a number of considerations. These are my conclusions as of about 1.5 years ago.
1. It IS illegal for Dish to provide the service to anyone with a primary residence outside of the USA.
2. It IS a violation of Dish's terms of service to receive the signal outside of the US, except with an RV waiver, which Dish has apparently discontinued.
3. It IS NOT illegal to receive Dish's signal in Mexico.
4. The big question--is it illegal to decrypt that signal? This may seem to split hairs, but it is an international distinction in law. For example, in the US I am free to receive the signal from any source, but forbidden by law to decrypt that signal unless I pay the originator, or there is no violation of copyright(or whatever it is called). My limited research--my Spanish is too poor to understand the laws--shows that Mexico also allows the reception of signals, but I don't know about the decryption.

The address issue is not a problem. Dish distinguishes between a service address--the place where the receivers are supposed to be, and a billing address. The billing address can be any address that you wish, and certainly can be your CC address, as long as it is in the US .
I urge you to resolve your issues with your dealer rather than calling Dish. If Dish even gets a hint that you are in Mexico, they WILL terminate your account.

All American Direct https://www.mydistantnetworks.com/ is providing your networks. They don't provide PBS. However, you can get an immediate, automatic RV waiver to receive PBS. http://www.pbs.org/...tpbs_prog_dish3.html or if your service address does not qualify for local service, http://www.pbs.org/...tpbs_prog_dish2.html. I suspect your service address is problematic for locals or you would not be eligible for the All American Direct networks. Try to get your dealer to do it. If no joy, call Dish and ask for it.

Not Pete--just Tim

johanson / Moderator

Feb 17, 2009, 7:00 PM

Post #4 of 12 (7672 views)

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Re: [JohnBleazard] Dish Network In's and Out's

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First Tim and Rolly gave you some great information, I just spent 45 minutes trying to explain the ins and outs of what is legal and illegal and somehow pushed the wrong button and lost everything. So I will try to give you more information Wednesday. It's time for me to go to sleep. I will help you Wednesday. Sorry about that.

johanson / Moderator

Feb 18, 2009, 9:47 AM

Post #5 of 12 (7648 views)

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Re: [johanson] Dish Network In's and Out's

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Here I go again. Tim and Rolly explained the DISH network situation very well. I have my primary DISH account at my real Seattle address and take my receiver with me when I travel. I am purposely vague when I call them from another location, especially if I am out of the US. I only have one receiver, and I pay for my service, so no one can accuse me of stacking or sharing satellite receivers with others.

Star Choice. Our family has a summer cottage on Vancouver Island, BC. The account is in my name and I am allowed to have a second receiver at a second location which is often Seattle when I am there. Star Choice knows this and has no problem I even use my Seattle address as my billing address and use my Seattle VoIP # as my primary contact number with Star Choice. Again no problem because I have a primary Canadian account. I take this receiver that I have in Seattle south with me as I travel and have phoned their Tech Support from as far south as Central America, asking dish pointing questions. Again, no problem because I have a real or primary site address in Canada, and I was just traveling.

That said, just to be on the safe side when I travel to Mexico and have to talk to tech support, I try not to state that I am out of the country.

Be careful especially if you have DISH and do as was suggested above and only phone your out of country satellite dealer if you have a problem

jreboll

Feb 18, 2009, 1:30 PM

Post #6 of 12 (7637 views)

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Re: [johanson] Dish Network In's and Out's

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What antenna do you use in Mexico and can you buy it there?

taltman711

Feb 18, 2009, 2:20 PM

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Re: [johanson] Dish Network In's and Out's

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I should add that Dish has had an unofficial "Don't ask, don't tell" policy toward its customer's exact location. If you are getting service thru a dealer, do you know the telephone number he gave Dish for your account? They do ask for it to identify the account. Best to just say that you recently changed phone service, and give the account number instead. The only time Dish gets tough with location is thru the audit dept. They can get REALLY tough. Normally an audit is only triggered by suspected account stacking or more than 3 receivers at one service address. Some devious dealers stack receivers without the customer knowing.I have also heard that if they notice a bunch of billing addresses going to the same location, such as the Texas address of Handy Mail, they will audit. This is unconfirmed, thank goodness. By the way if you ever do get called by the audit people, treat them as you would the IRS. There are too many stories of their vindictive, capricious attitude. If they leave a message, call them back. If you don't, they will turn off all but 1 receiver on your account. And, they can have a serious attitude. Bite your lip if you want to continue getting Dish. Try to find out something about your service address. Like where it is relative to the town center. They do ask to try to trip you up. Don't fret about this, it very rarely happens.

Tim

johanson / Moderator

Feb 18, 2009, 3:51 PM

Post #8 of 12 (7626 views)

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Re: [jreboll] Dish Network In's and Out's

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What size satellite dish? It depends upon your location. If your very close to the US border, you can probably use a satellite dish provided by DISH but if you live near Guadalajara you need about a 4 footer for the satellite at 119 degrees West, a 6 footer for the remaining transponders/channels viewable this far south on 110 W, maybe 40% of them and that is a wild guess, and I have heard from others that you can get the new Ciel 2 bird which is located at 129 W with a 2 meter or so.

Where do you get these oversized satellite dishes and related LNBs, why from your Mexican satellite dealer, thank goodness. You will see advertisements in your English language local newspapers once you get to Mexico.

(This post was edited by johanson on Feb 18, 2009, 4:19 PM)

delmaracer

Feb 18, 2009, 9:45 PM

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Re: [johanson] Dish Network In's and Out's

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Knowing I was going to Mexico to live, I got a DirecTV dish at my home in San Diego about 1 year prior to the move, just to learn how to use it (slo learner here). I knew that Sky was the only authorized satellite system legal in Mx and that I would have to somehow see that my dish and receiver boxes found their way to my casa here. Well Suuurprise, they did. But I did change the billing address to Las Vegas, Nv. which is my primary address anyway. So I get the San Diego stations and the HD stuff etc, etc. and am quite happy about it. I did have to find my exact long an lat and re aim and readjust the dish so it would receive the satellites at 99a, 99b, 101, 110, 119, 103a, 103b using a 5 LNB multi-sat dish.
Knowing I could not be traced, but if found out I could be sent to federal prison for maybe 60 years, I keep my installation very lo keyed. There are local installers who install the same system and give the expat's a border town address, but they would miss out on the "major town" of their preferrence without that town location connection.
I am extreemly pleased with the installation I did using a compass and the setup steps from the system menu.
So, If anyone asks, I know nothin.

Bob

johanson / Moderator

Feb 19, 2009, 4:20 AM

Post #10 of 12 (7598 views)

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Re: [delmaracr] Dish Network In's and Out's

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What are you trying to say when you write "Knowing I could not be traced, but if found out I could be sent to federal prison for maybe 60 years, I keep my installation very lo keyed."

It's easy to figure out whether you are watching SKY or a foreign system like DISH. One needs to just look on the roof of any house to tell which system one has. Remember that those satellite dishes pointing toward SKY are facing East and those for DISH and Star Choice are pointed South. Perhaps 75% to 85% of the Americans and Canadians here subscribe to a US or Canadian satellite TV provider. And yes one of the satellite dealerships was raided by the Federal Government about 18 months ago. They were looking for folks who were selling FTA (you know steal the signal) equipment. They were not interested in those who were paying for their DISH and Star Choice packages.

delmaracer

Feb 19, 2009, 9:24 AM

Post #11 of 12 (7582 views)

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Re: [johanson] Dish Network In's and Out's

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Now from you, I would have expected a lol. Did I mention that I pay monthly for the satellite service I receive? I am not stealth with the signal (well sorta), just the location (well sorta) ;)
And just think, we have JohnBleazard to fondly thank for this thread, lol.

Bob

(This post was edited by delmaracr on Feb 19, 2009, 9:39 AM)

johanson / Moderator

Feb 19, 2009, 11:49 AM

Post #12 of 12 (7571 views)

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Re: [delmaracr] Dish Network In's and Out's

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Thanks for the response, Now I understand :) I think :)